When Chris Werner posted news that Bob Liptak’s new sausage place—The Wurst Place —was opening this summer, one commenter accused Liptak of stealing the idea from Wurstkuche, a sausage bar in LA.

Here’s what Liptak had to say about that:

We in no way are trying to reinvent the wheel, or sausage in this case (or casing…). Along with the countless sausage kitchens we visited throughout Germany, Hot Doug’s in Chicago then Wurstkuche in LA were both fantastic inspirations for us while doing research for our new Seattle restaurant The Wurst Place. Swiss Hot Dog in Vail, CO inspired us too.

We hope to enjoy the popularity and success of these sausage pioneers which have taken gourmet sausage restaurants to a new level yet we are also striving to set The Wurst Place apart from the others. Yes, we carry a rattlesnake and wild hare sausage but that’s where the sausage similarity ends. We actually make some of our sausages fresh in house as well as carrying what we feel are horribly delicious unique encased offerings from around the country including a few from right here in Seattle…

Read the rest of the comment here.